A Hall County school bus involved in a fatal crash May 16, 2018, is towed away from the scene on Thompson Bridge Road north of Murrayville.
- photo by Nick Bowman

Updated:
May 16, 2018, 5:15 p.m.

A
13-year-old Dawsonville girl was killed in a head-on crash with a Hall County
school bus Wednesday morning in North Hall.

Summer
Faith Anderson, a seventh-grader at Dawson County Middle School, was killed in
the crash on Thompson Bridge Road north of Murrayville, according to Dawson
County Schools Superintendent Damon Gibbs.

Zachary
Anderson, 12, a Kilough Elementary School fifth-grader in the same car, was
seriously injured and was being transported to Children’s Healthcare of
Atlanta.

The
driver of the car, Lonnie Anderson, 33, of Dawsonville, also was seriously
injured, according to the Georgia State Patrol, which is investigating the
wreck.

The
relationships of the three people in the car wasn’t immediately known, although
Hall school officials released a statement later saying the system offers its
“sincere sympathy and condolences to the Anderson family” and “our thoughts and
prayers are with them.”

The
wreck involved a Hall County school bus carrying 19 Mount Vernon Exploratory
School students and bus driver Barbara Flowers, 65, of Gainesville, who were
transported by another school bus to Northeast Georgia Medical Center in
Gainesville for precautionary examinations, Hall County Schools spokesman
Gordon Higgins said.

Higgins
said there were no reports of serious injuries to Hall students.

Three
of the students had “very minor injuries,” according to a state patrol news
release.

The
wreck happened at about 7:10 a.m. May 16 in the 6000 block of Thompson Bridge
Road, according to the Hall County Fire Services.

Higgins
said Bus No. 2105 and the other vehicle, a 1995 Ford Mustang, collided head-on.

Anderson
was driving north on Thompson Bridge Road and the bus was traveling south,
according to state patrol.

Anderson’s
car “struck standing water on the roadway and hydroplaned,” the release says.

His
vehicle then traveled into the southbound lane and hit the bus.

No
alcohol or drugs were suspected in this crash, according to the state patrol.

And
charges against Lonnie Anderson are “pending based upon the seriousness of his
medical condition,” state patrol said.

Hall
County Schools Superintendent Will Schofield said “it was an extremely
traumatic situation for everybody involved. I was up there with all (the
students) and we’ve got some shaken-up kids.”

Higgins
said in an email that hospital staff, working with with Hall County school
personnel, worked with parents “upon arrival to match them with their
children.”

“The
result was a welcomed reunion during a very stressful time for both parent and
child,” he said.

All
19 students were released from the hospital.

The
bus driver had a “complaint of injury,” according to the state patrol release.

Flowers
“deserves much credit, not only in bringing the bus to a safe stop after the
severe impact, but also on focusing her full attention on the care of her
students after the bus had been secured,” Higgins said.

He
also noted that two women who witnessed the accident stopped to offer support
as Flowers “was going through the bus to reassure the children’s safety and to
make sure everyone was OK. Mrs. Flowers said, ‘They were my angels.’”

Gibbs
informed Dawson County parents and staff about the death in an email and wrote
“members of our Crisis Response Team are available to meet with students
individually and in groups today as well as over the coming days and weeks.”

This story will be updated.

Dawson County News reporter Jessica Brown and Times reporter Jeff Gill contributed to this report.